#bonus points for that quote being in reference to the character in the top image lol

[becauseanders]

random jennifer hale voicing characters i am hella gay for appreciation post

[akampana]

My friend and i came to a interesting conclusion.

We both think that a chance of "redeption" for the way Saberlot is treated by the game could present itself with the possible release of Guinevere as a servant, where we could have her have an event with lancelot that would help clarify things. This comes out of my idea that Lancelot remorse is also greatly influenced by the way he treated her, and the possibility that the forgiveness or punishment he seeks might not come from Arturia, like he thinks.

This however is a double edged sword because 1 50% risk of making her another sexualized stereotype 2 reduce her as another secondary character if not written well enough.

I am also afraid that this could come out incredibly wrong, because i don't think she should simply forgive him, as the way he treated her was incredibly cruel in my opinion. But at the same time, i believe that in order to finally develop his character and break him out of the infamous image, we would also need the third individual integral to the story, and the one i believe suffered directly from its result.

I think Saberlot gets the brunt of the NTR jokes because he's the only one whose fatherhood is so blatant, considering Mash.

I'd hope for a Guinevere servant, but at this point, I'm not sure we'll get one. There's a lot of Arthurian Servants around as is, not even counting the ones coming in the latest LB. But we can still hope. :3

I'd kill for an event but damn. Maybe even just an interlude??? Please??? A lot of the interludes (off the top of my head, I think of Enkidu's) have insanely good writing that really adds to the characters. For Saberlot specifically, I think an interlude set in London would be pretty good, one in which we meet the Knights (including Agravain, because if they aren't gonna give him as a servant, might as well reuse his fcking art), a version of Arturia, and Guinevere.

This is just my personal take:

Based on what we have on Lancelot so far, it seems he's basically just...taking the insults (jokingly perhaps) cause he thinks he probably deserves to be treated that way anyway, on account of his sins. We can also assume Arturia has just preserved the status quo, meaning she hasn't really changed her stance on the cuckolding either.

In his interlude, I think it's important he gets to talk to Tristan, who was the first deserter, Agravain, who discovered the affair, Gareth, who he killed to liberate Guinevere, then Gawain, who prevented him from joining Camlann In that order, where all the knights finally get the opportunity to air out their grievances. Gareth, for example, gets to ask him "why did you kill me when I admired you so much" instead of just being okay with it and continuing to be a Lancelot fangirl. Agravain literally just tears him up without holding back. Gawain finally gets to hash out their issues that did not start and end with the murder of his siblings.

And at the end of it all, Lancelot realizes that they'd all just been keeping the peace, and everyone was just as torn up as he is. Literally no one was as okay as he thought. Which gives him the courage to finally speak up to the person he meets next.

Arturia.

He finally admits that all he wants is punishment. He asks why she wouldn't just give it to him.

And (based on diarmuid's interlude Arturia knows who he is and therefore Fate zero happened you can't change my mind) she flashes back to her battle with him as a Berserker. It makes even more sense now why Berserker was so aggressive toward her.

And then Arturia tells him that she used to lament how it all ended, but that a certain redhead helped her accept the ending she achieved and finally lay to rest. So even as Servants, she doesn't wish to punish Saberlot, and she hopes he'll forgive her wanting to make amends instead. She then advises him to accept his past as well. She has.

So by this time Lancelot's gotten his resolutions from the people that matter most to him. He now understands the Knights' grievances with his sins (and the rather... questionable ways they compensated or covered it up) then eventually realized he would never get punishment from Arturia, but that she has accepted her fate. From what he can tell as well, Arturia has finally lightened up a bit.

So why does he still feel guilty even after all those talks? He still has one more loose end to tie up

This is where we finally get Guinevere (honestly she can have one of those stock faces or something I'd be happy for any Guin content at this point). They discuss what happened with his relationship. He says he's sorry he wasn't around when she died at the convent, she says she's sorry they let their guilt eat at them their whole lives, and that now that he has a second chance, he shouldn't squander it.(bonus if you ship Lancetoria, a subtle reference to that line in Einzbern consultation room where he admits he loved his king more, with which Guinevere laughs and says that she knew that already).

After more discussion on how their relationship ended, Guinevere is able to walk away with a smile as Saberlot returns to Chaldea, this time free of all that burdened him and ready to start again without anything weighing him down.

I just want good things for Lancelot. Really.

(edit: I wasn't able to fit in mo-san and bedi but they could totally talk too)

(edit edit: the other possibility I saw was him talking to servants that went through something similar, i.e. lancer Diarmuid (their legends are literally the quite the same) and maybe Fionn(but don't quote me on that idk enough about his fgo version yet)

[crampdown]

Cramp’s Comic Recommendations For Fans Of Classic Rock And Co.

Allright here we go. This is my current list of comics/manga/graphic novels you might enjoy if you’re into classic rock. Before we get started I’d just like to let you all know:

- This list is far from being complete. I’m sure there are many more groovy comics out there that I’m simply not aware of yet so if you have any suggestions feel free to add them :)

- I know I said “Classic Rock” but some of my choices may drift into other musical directions

- Needless to say I do not own any of the following images. They all belong to their rightfull owners and I’ll use them as visual reference material only.

- Sorry for eventual misspelling

Let’s go ^^

1. Bob Dylan Revisited 

Let’s start with an obvious choice. This is a collection of 13 well-known Dylan Songs, each of them graphically interpreted by a different artist. The most striking feature therefore is the high variety of different art styles. Some of them are cartoony, some are very abstract while others are almost photo realistic.

Dylan’s mesmerizing lyrics have always been inspirational and these beautiful depictions truly are a sight to see. 

Including works of Thierry Murat, Lorenzo Mattotti, Nicolas Nemiri, François Avril, Jean-Claude Götting, Christopher,  Bézian, Dave McKean, Alfred, Raphaëlle Le Rio, Maël Le Mae, and Henri Meunier, Gradimir Smudju, Benjamin Flao, Jean-Phillippe Bramanti and Zep.

Zep’s take on “Not Dark Yet”

Jean-Phillippe Bramanti’s interpretation of “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”

Definitely worth checking out not only for Bob Dylan Fans.

2. Baby’s In Black” by Arne Bellstorf

I’ve seen several people in the Beatles fandom complain about the lack of Stuart Sutcliffe material when it comes to early Beatles history. 

Well, here it is: a graphic novel that focuses on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and fotographer Astrid Kirchherr who took the very first professional photos of the Beatles during their time in Hamburg (1960-61).

Told mostly from Astrid’s point of view this comic presents itself in a grey and melancholic tone that fits the rather sad story. Bellstorf’s drawings are simplified and charming (they remind me of early sixties children book illustrations which suits the setting’s time period)

If you’re interested in early Beatles history (especially their Hamburg days) you should give this one a try.

3. Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston Flores

I really wish I had known about this amazing comic series a few years earlier, not only because this is a slice of life/coming of age story with teenage characters who are actually likeable and relateable but also because “Blue Monday” is an overall highly entertaining depiction of early nineties teen culture/rebellion in an American suburb that comes with a lot of references to Britpop, mod culture, Buster Keaton movies and Adam Ant (to name only a few).

To quote the author herself: “It’s like Archie on crack, with cursing and smokes”.

The art style of Chynna Clugston Flores is very vivid and expressive and has a certain stylistic touch of anime/manga (like a lot of comics from the early 2000s). I also really enjoy all of the graphic fashion details in this one. Plus, this is the first comic with it’s own soundtrack and that’s always a nice bonus.

I’d recommend “Blue Monday” for fans of Britpop, Punk, New Wave and early 1990′s culture.

4. Punk Rock And Trailer Parks by Derf Backderf

Another story about growing up in American small town madness, this time set in 1980s gritty Punk subculture of the former rubber city of Akron, Ohio. Protagonist Otto who likes to refer to himself as “The Baron” becomes fascinated with Punk after attending a Ramones concert. He meets several Pubk icons (thus as The Clash, The Plasmatics, rock journalist Lester Bangs and many more) and becomes someting of a local punk star himself.

Derf Backderf (who is best known for his highly acclaimed graphic novel “My Friend Dahmer” and his Eisner award winning comic “Trashed”) created a comic that is as “raw and dirty as punk itself”. His art style is an unique combination of expressionism, underground cartoons and punk magazines.

“Punk Rock And Trailer Parks” is a must-have for punk fans (especially if you’re into The Ramones and The Clash. It made me a huge fan of both of them).

5. “CASH - I See A Darkness” and “Nick Cave - Mercy On Me” by Reinhard Kleist

Two biographical graphic novels by Reinhard Kleist, both of them tell the story of a fascinating personality in rock history and both of them are incredibly well drawn. Kleist’s art is full of life and movement and very atmospheric due to his impressive use of stark contrasts. 

I personally love his semirealistic way of drawing people and I’d highly suggest you to check out his other works too. He made a lot of biographical comics that really amazed me.

CASH

Cave

Definetly worth reading. Not only for Johnny Cash and Nick Cave fans.

6. Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson, Nate Bellegarde, Jordie Bellaire and Fonografiks

I talked about this one a while ago but I’ll gladly do it again since it’s just too cool. “Nowhere Men” is set in an alternative past/present and future where scientists became as popular as pop stars (catchphrase “Science is the new Rock n` Roll”) but somewhere along the way something definetly went wrong. 

The hype of science shares obvious similarities with the beatlemania of the 60s and the founding of Apple back then. Furthermore, the characters are partly inspired by well-known personalities of Rock history. There are many more or less hidden nods and references to musical popculture wich is why I put it on this list.

Nowhere Men is a thrilling sci-fi dystopian that requires an observant reader because there is a lot of jumping back and forth i time and inbetween information. The art style is realistic and full of very vibrant colours.

I found myself reading this multiple times to get all of the details in the world building. A thoughtful and brilliant writing indeed. 

7. P.I.L. by Mari Yamazaki

Japan 1983: 17-year-old Nanami couldn’t be more frustrated. Her grandfather loves to spend all of their household money on useless luxury junk and her strict school criticizes her messy hairstyle. Caught between teenage rebellion and responsibility as she tries different side jobs to earn at least a little bit of money, Nanami also has a thing for punk music and overall everything originated from England.

P.I.L. tells the story of conflict between two generations who aren’t as different as they might seem. Sometimes funny and heartwarming, sometimes with a bit of drama this is a charming slice of life/ coming of age josei with a more simplistic but aesthetical pleasing art style.

as the title might suggest, Nanami is a big fan of P.I.L. and other bands of the punk, neo punk and new wave movement such as The Stranglers and The Killing Joke

8. Yellow Submarine by Bill Morrison

A comic adaptation of an animated film such as Yellow Submarine? Yeah, I was skeptical at first too but hear me out: This is really great. Morrison did an amazing job at capturing the trippy and psychedelic feeling of the legendary Beatles film. As the 1968 film used the medium of animation as an actual form of art to accomplish things only animation can do, Morrison did the same thing and used the advantages of the comic medium to accomplish things only comics can do. And it works. It really works.

Every single page of this colourful book has a different panel layout. Some of them are so beautiful and creative that I’d love to have a full-size poster version of them :’D

If you liked the film, if you love the psychedelic age, you’ll probably like the comic too. 

9. In The Pines by Erik Kriek

“In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines...”

5 Murder Ballads, some might call them dark Country Music, each of them beautifully illustrated by Erik Kriek. Atmospheric, dark and gritty and always on point to match the spine-chilling western-like storytelling of these ballads, great for fans of horror literature a la E.A.Poe.

10. Andy - A Factual Fairy Tale by Typex

Allright folks this is it:

Typex’s “Andy” is by far one of the best comics/graphic novels I’ve ever red. It defenitely is my personal favourite reading of 2019 (and tbh I kinda doubt anything will top this anytime soon)

This is more than just a biographical take on of the most enigmatic pop-art artists of 20th centuary’s America, this is a portrait of the 20th centuary itself. There are so many references to art, history, literature, music and more that I could fill a book counting them all. And of course this is a monument for the medium of comic itself. Typex really managed to show what comic’s are capable of (At this point I’m really sorry I can’t explain it better I’m not good in writing stuff like this yet...)

Visually one of the most appealing things are the different art styles Typex manages to pull off so well for every chapter in Warhol’s life because each of them are a mirror of their zeitgeist. The introduction of Warhol’s childhood during the 30s is drawn in a cartoony style of old news paper comic strips. The chapter of 1967 has a psychedelic edge. The chapter of the early 60s shows similarities with the works of Roy Liechtenstein

So many icons from the 1930s-1980s have a cameo in this graphic novel it’s just amazing. If you’re even remotely interested in anything of this time period you’d definitely should read this. (seriously, READ THIS). But at this point I’d also like to mention that this comic does not shy away from showing very explicit content and sensetive topics (please keep in mind this has a mature rating for a reason)

Yeah so I couldn’t give this piece of art enough praise. It is absolutely brilliant, a masterpiece in every sense and word.I wasn’t too aware of Typex before but appearentely he also did a graphic novel on Rembrandt. I’m gonna read this too.

Some honorable mentions:

California Dreamin` by Penelope Bagieu

I haven’t red this one yet so I can’t say anything more about it. But I wanted to let you know that a graphic novel about the life of Cass Elliot exists.

Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner

One of the prequels of the legendary “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It’ “only” an honorable mention because you’ll have to be familiar with the Watchmen universe to fully get all of the story. This prequel focuses on Laurie Jupeczyk, the second Silk Spectre and her own adventures during 1967, the summer of love in San Francisco.

Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor

Another one I haven’t fully red yet, but so far I’m loving it. It basically tells the history of Rap and Hip Hop from the early 70s to the mid 80s. The art style is intentionally old-school wich really fits it’s tone and setting.

Fritz The Cat by Robert Crumb

I suppose I can’t make a list like this without at least mentioning an absolut icon of the underground comix movement. Crumb created the adventures of this nasty junky cat during the 60s. Fritz can be seen as a satirical mirror of counter-culture’s zeitgeist.

and speaking of Crumb, his “Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country” trading cards are neat too...

allright that’s it for now. like I said, if you have anymore suggestions, feel free to add ^^

[ra-lek]

could you do an analysis of elliot's dream sequence in 1x4 please? i love reading your thoughts on the show. thx

i sure can try!! this gets lengthy tho so sit back & enjoy while i try my best to write coherent sentences. under the cut we go;

alright so the way i’m going to do this is by dividing the dream sequence into 6 parts, give a quick summary of what’s going on in each of them, and then add my thoughts; sounds good? here we go:

part 1.

summary: mr robot leads elliot to some drug house, elliot gets injected, there’s a shootout, both he & the girl are shot, he glances at the tv to see the weather forecast, followed by an fsociety speech, before he closes his eyes. next, he’s standing next to mr robot who hands him the key and the mask, then the program switches to an ecorp commercial.

first and foremost, i want to point out the symbolism when the shooting begins. the girl who had given elliot the shot was kissing him before she was killed and fell dead next to him. so i think the drug-supplier-girl who he hooks up with & she ends up dying is a reference to shayla? (keep in mind this dream happens before her death); just as how him getting shot and falling on the floor could be seen as foreshadowing.

when it comes to the fsociety speech, mr robot delivers a very unique line in my opinion: “if you have any interest in waking from your slumber, in retrieving lost, damaged, or stolen memory, we are here for you.” how i see this particular quote is tied to my overall opinion on elliot’s coping mechanisms. he suffers from DID- so we know for a fact he has lost & damaged memories. but what about those stolen ones? maybe it goes with the package but maybe it’s something we’ve yet to find out. waking up from his slumber could just be a reference to this being a dream- or in a sense where elliot needs to step up and discover these things for himself.

the key, as you’ll come to realize, is a constant repetition in these scenes. in this first part, mr robot is the one who has it around his neck. once elliot stands next to him, he’s handed the key and the mask. in my head this is a direct symbolism to what we see at the beginning of the show. mr robot introducing elliot to fsociety. so let’s say whoever holds the key, is the one in control of the operation and hold onto that thought for the rest of these, okay?

when elliot asks “what’s it open?” mr robot answers with just “it belongs to you now” followed by saying the mask was made in orient (meaning east, could even be china. dark army.) and just for his head- which i see as a little ‘we’re the same person’ detail- but then adds “now, find your monster, and turn the key.” then the commercial plays. this could be there just to get us to believe e-corp is the monster, turning the key is taking them down. but that’s far too easy.

part 2.

summary: elliot is walking down a neighborhood until he stops in front of the aldersons house. as he turns to look at it, the house is replaced by a pillar with a note spelling out ‘error 404: not found’. next shot is of a little girl on a scooter humming a tune then stopping to look at elliot. they chat a bit, then she picks up the key and hands it to him. once the key’s with him again, he hums along and approaches the house.

the first thing we see, aside from the copy-paste houses, is the mailbox which has the number 404 written on it above the name “the aldersons” so we know that once he turns to look at the house, it’s supposed to be his childhood home. it’s in the shot until he turns only to see the aforementioned error. it’s common knowledge by now but i’m going to add it anyway: “the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested” as a callback to what i mentioned before about lost memories, i’m also going to mention that there is something about this house that he’s forgetting. my guess is the reveal in s3 finale. finding out that he had been the one who jumped.

we know the girl with the scooter is young darlene, humming frère jacques. (brother john/or however your version translated the name) and essentially the lyrics are “brother [name] x2, are you sleeping? x2, ring the morning bells x2, ding ding dong x2.” we can make the connection to the 'slumber’ which mr robot mentioned in part 1- with the same meaning, i’d say. though to continue with my point, elliot greets her with “hello. hello, friend” to what she responds with “but we’re not friends” because she is his sister. again, this dream sequence had been before we knew that obviously, so this is important because in the french version of the song; the brother is the one who is supposed to ring the morning bells- and as elliot hums along and approaches the house, he sings “ding ding dong” out loud as further confirmation he’s, in fact, the brother in question.

i avoided the “first can you tell me, what’s your monster?” part because i don’T KNOW–

now, i mentioned before how whoever holds the key is the one in control of the operation? darlene had been the front face of fsociety while elliot was away during s2; once he’s out of prison, he gets the key back. 

part 3.

summary: the door opens and elliot is standing in his apartment. tyrell is there, holding the key- looking at elliot and not saying anything. instead, qwerty the fish is the one to chat him up as elliot sits on the couch next to him.

at this point we know 'whoever holds the key’ theme i’m going with- and here it’s no different. we know tyrell had been the one who initiated 5/9 with mr robot on that day. though he never gives it back, since he’s technically working with elliot ever since the hack.

now qwerty’s dialogue is so interesting to me because it’s this whole loop thing which i love so much and i’m gonna put the most important quotes here: “time’s money, elliot.” we all know which character is obsessed with time, and keep that in mind cause i’m about to bring it up again later. the rest goes: “when you’re in a fishbowl, ain’t no such thing as change. my entire life has been spent in this thing. my whole world’s on your side table. i look around same shit, different day. the lighting, the furniture. even the sounds always the same. i’m stuck on a loop. and it won’t stop until my life does.” now i think what he’s referring to here- being stuck in a 'fishbowl’ and seeing the same things, being stuck on a loop- could be seen as foreshadowing to elliot’s jail time. however, it’s not the only time elliot has this 'loop’ moment. the one that i think is being predicted here as well is the loop he has while working for e-crop? so the answer to how to ‘help’ his pet is to “move him to a goddamn window” it just screams 'do something.’ or rather- see the bigger picture.

part 4.

summary: they’re in a restaurant, angela is cutting up a big betta fish. elliot is sitting on the other side of the table as he stares in betrayal and informs angela it’s his friend. she tries to feed him a piece but he refuses and looks over to see his younger self being force fed the fish by his mother. then elliot gets served a raspberry pie in which he finds the key upon the first bite. angela misunderstands the gesture and accepts the 'proposal’ which is followed by applause as she takes the key, hugs him, and they leave.

since qwerty had mentioned 'time is money’ as some kind of whiterose symbolism. seeing angela being the one to cut him up and say he’s delicious is, at the same time, betrayal in the sense she’s associated with whiterose; and the fact she has been working with mr robot behind elliot’s back.this further proves the elliot working at e-corp loop i talked about earlier since qwerty is associated with both whiterose and angela at this point. 

when she offers him the food, he refuses and sees his younger self do the same thing- but what’s fun is that the woman sitting behind his mother has a white rose in her hair. so this could be seen as his mother’s general abuse plus both of them trying to get him to work for the dark army. this refusal is further emphasized with a symbolic 'wall’ between himself and angela.

the food in which the key is placed is a raspberry pie- or rather, raspberry pi. the one elliot is supposed to plant in steel mountain in this very episode, if it weren’t for the withdrawal he’s going through. so he’s- once again- holding the key. though not for long, since angela’s the next one to get it. i think her control had been in the episode where she had to help darlene.

bonus: the image taped next to elliot on his table seems to be a guy in a boat?? there’s another one, too- but i never got a good look and have no idea what it means but it’s there.

part 5. 

summary: elliot is entering the arcade in a tuxedo (with the hoodie still over it lmao), slowly approaching angela who is leaning against the wall and wearing a white dress. she approaches him, tells him a couple of things w a cynical attitude, before giving him the key back and saying it doesn’t fit. when he asks why, it cuts to black in the middle of her response.

first of all the song playing in the back is an absolute bop and i suggest listening to it but ok let’s go back to serious stuff: 

angela is dressed in white and standing in front of an illustration of a joker. the one symbolism i know about that in particular is that he’s a symbol of beginning and end- considering you have him at the top and bottom of the deck. so it could be seen as another loop, right? it’s there and i can see it in the scene when angela rewinds the video of the buildings falling- but it might as well have more meaning than that. for instance, it’s important to note that elliot has the same illustration behind himself. when she approaches elliot, there’s a line separating them, suggesting they are opposites. further emphasizing the two sides of the deck reference.

the highlights in her monologue for me are the following: “you’re not gonna do it, are you? change the world. figures, you were only born a month ago.” and this is so, so strange because it’s later followed by “you’re not elliot, you’re the-” and then it cuts off. it’s too obvious to say it might be another personality elliot created. either mr robot, or us- but the last part changes everything because she isn’t asking elliot what his monster is. she’s asking the person she sees in elliot. “you’re afraid. afraid of your monster. do you even know what it is?” and honestly?? i fuckiN DON’T.

part 6.

summary: dark room filled with children’s laughter. elliot’s calling out and saying hello- then he sees the camera and the fsociety mask in front of him. he slowly approaches it, has an inner monologue with us, puts it on and says 'i am here. you are alone.’ which is followed by the arcade lights turning on & beeping as elliot takes the mask off and gasps. then the dream is officially over.

the laughter i associate with forgotten childhood, i think? i’m not too smart on this scene i won’t lie. i think it was supposed to be seen as the “you created all of this” or “i am mr robot” foreshadowing but that seems a bit too simple? though honestly, i can’t see much else here other than the sound of the arcade being the 'alarm’ that wakes him out of his slumber.

another one for this, that’s a bit far fetched but can work goes: the children’s laughter are young darlene & elliot- and the camera elliot is looking at, the one w the mask attached to it could represent the camera he took from his father on that day he jumped out. considering the mask had originally come from a movie darlene & himself used to watch as kids.

the words elliot says when he puts the mask on, when he’s mr robot, are “i am here. you are alone.” which could mean a number of things?? since the moment he says this, the arcade lights up and shows that he is, in fact, alone. once again the symbolism i personally see the most here is 'although nobody else is physically here with you, i’m there inside of you.’ another ‘we’re the same person’ one here, i’m guessing.

so i must admit i ended on quite an anticlimactic note. since it’s the scene that’s the shortest and confuses me a lot- i don’t know how much sense this all made but i tried my best to sum my thoughts up without going all over the place. but!! you can tell me what you think about all this in my inbox and give some of your own input all the time, i’d love to hear it!! same goes for if you want me to analyze any of the other dream sequences elliot has. thanks for reading!!

[devontroxell]

10 Examples of Interactive Content Marketing Done Right

Quizzes from media company BuzzFeed are perhaps the best-known examples of interactive content, which Alex Membrillo, CEO of Cardinal SEO Company, said allows user to select their own path to receive information.

The latest Buzzfeed Quiz offering, an even more interactive.

If you’re not creating interactive content already, this is a great way to expand marketing strategy, and in this post, we’ll show you how it’s done best. Here are 10 examples of interactive content marketing done right.

But first, let’s talk about why interactive content marketing is and why it can help your strategy.

What is interactive content marketing?

Interactive content is content a user can engage with and manipulate, like those aforementioned quizzes, as well as data visualizations, calculators or infographics, as Mitchell Kelly, digital marketing director of performance marketing company Pathfinder Alliance, put it.

Another common example is the free quotes consumers can receive on insurance company websites, said Greg Heilers, co-founder of SEO and content marketing firm Jolly SEO.

“Interactive content is one of the best ways to engage your audience and enhance the customer experience,” Membrillo added. “Interactive content allows the reader to actively participate, as opposed to passively reading, watching or listening.”

Why is interactive content marketing effective?

Interactive content is indeed more engaging: BuzzFeed said 96% of users who start its sponsored quizzes finish them, for example.

“Since customers engage more with interactive content, this leads to more views, resulting in more brand awareness, which eventually translates to more customers,” Heilers said.

Samantha Moss, editor and content ambassador of relationship blog Romantific, noted it’s a form of content that helps brands target the right consumers.

“Most of the people who will react to your content are people who are likely interested in your brand,” she said.

Kelly said there's a lot of buzz about interactive content among publishers because of its potential to drive links, shares, and engagement.

“However, I think interactive content is being slept on big time in terms of its potential to skyrocket conversion rates for both lead generation and ecommerce websites,” he added.

That’s in part because interactive content can be used to collect customer information, said Oli Graham, marketing manager for copywriting company RightlyWritten.

“The bonus with interactive content is that the information gleaned from the customer when interacting with the content … can be used to segment your customers into different personas,” he noted. “This will create better-converting funnels in the long term.”

It’s also a channel that enables users to send direct feedback to brands.

“With this feedback, the marketer immediately knows what's working and what's not working,” said Tom De Spiegelaere, founder of digital marketing agency Tom Spicky.

It also provides an experience that cannot be cited without a link.

“Say, for example, you write an article based around what a new interactive map shows people,” Graham said. “You cannot create that story without linking to the map itself. Therefore, interactive content is highly linkable and becomes a linkable asset on your website.”

Our 10 favorite examples of awesome interactive content

Now that we’re clear on what interactive content is and why it’s effective, let’s move on to learning from some awesome examples. There are tons out there, but here are 10 favorites among digital marketers, which educate and entertain.

1. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer

This tool from marketing software CoSchedule analyzes headlines and determines how useful they are with scores based on features like word balance and character length.

CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

“I don’t know a single content marketer that hasn’t heard about this app or used it,” said Malte Scholz, CEO of project management tool Airfocus. “The app just works and it’s probably one of the top lead generation methods for their website because you can’t get your results if you don’t submit your contact information.”

2. HubSpot’s Website Grader

This free website tool from marketing software HubSpot grades sites based on factors like performance, mobile readiness, SEO, and security.

HubSpot’s Website Grader

Heilers called it a “quick, free way to evaluate a website,” adding, “It's a great way for HubSpot to increase their leads, by offering to provide further advice to website owners with poor ratings.”

3. Allbirds: Why Our Future May Depend on Birds

Nate Nead, CEO of SEO firm SEO.co, pointed to DTC shoe brand Allbirds’ paid post with the New York Times on how birds impact the environment, how consumers can help protect birds, and how Allbirds makes “better shoes in a better way.”

The experience includes sounds of various bird calls, as well as visuals of the birds and their environments in motion.

“One of the biggest boons to interactive content marketing is the stickiness factor,” Nead said. “When content is sticky and dwell time significantly increases, so, too, do rankings, conversions, and sales. It tends to have a triple-net effect.”

4. Function of Beauty’s Hair Quiz

For her part, marketing consultant Olga Tsimaraki pointed to the quiz on the website of DTC haircare brand Function of Beauty, which asks visitors for information about their hair, goals, and fragrance and color preferences to come up with a personalized product recommendations.

Tsimaraki said she likes this example because “they're providing a simpler customer/user experience.”

“What people are looking for today is simple answers and interactive content allows companies to do just that,” she added.

5. Clinique’s Foundation Finder

Makeup brand Clinique’s Foundation Finder offers similar functionality—by answering questions about skin tone, coverage preference, and skin goals, Clinique suggests foundation types and shades.

“You can see images of real women with different skin tones and you just select the closest option to your skin tone,” said Medha Mehta, content marketing specialist at website security firm Sectigo. “It also has images for all the other options to help you choose your preferable coverage, forms, and types of finishes … after that, they suggested not only the closest shade for my skin tone but also the foundation that matched all other criteria.”

6. Nove Bike’s Aero X

Similarly, Nove Bikes offers a customization tool on its website to allow customers to build their ideal high-performance bicycle.

“For any online business selling customizable products, making it easy for your customers to visualize what the final product will look like as well as engage them in the buying process is critical,” Kelly said. “While the upfront cost to build something like this is expensive, the impact can be measured easily in terms of conversion rate on product pages.”

7. Disney’s My Disney Experience

According to Membrillo, Disney’s My Disney Experience app proves it has “mastered the art of interactive content.”

It allows visitors to check in to the Disney Resort, find character greeting locations, make dining reservations, navigate the park, and, of course, shop.

“Users can select locations on their interactive map to view real-time wait times for attractions and plan their day by building an itinerary,” he said. “Utilizing Disney’s Magic Band technology, guests can also use the My Photo feature on the app to view photos that automatically synced from attractions they were on.”

8. Missy Empire’s You vs. the Kardashians

Going for more of the shock factor, clothing brand Missy Empire created a calculator that allows regular Joes and Janes to type in their salaries to see how many minutes it takes members of the Kardashian family to make what they earn in a year.

Missy Empire’s Calculator

“To date, the piece has 127 referring domains,” Graham said.

9. BBC’s Will a Robot Take Your Job?

In 2015, as autonomous machines were first being integrated into the workforce and we were starting to see a shift in labor and related anxiety, the BBC published an interactive post that allowed users to type in their job titles to see what the odds are their job will be automated in the next 20 years.

“This is a more creative example for getting readers engaged,” said Vinay Amin, CEO of supplement brand Eu Natural.

10. CNN’s Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline

In 2018, CNN followed with an interactive timeline for Marvel’s cinematic universe to prepare viewers for the release of the superhero film Avengers: Infinity War.

“Over the last decade, Marvel has been dropping hints—Easter eggs, along with mid-credit and post-credit scenes—to set up one of the biggest showdowns in Marvel comic book history: ‘Infinity War,’” the site says. “It’s hard to remember every semi-hidden tip over 10 years, but we’ve got you covered.”

Per Heilers, in addition to netting backlinks, it increased the amount of time people spent on the website.

Make interactive content work for your business

These examples illustrate the range of possibilities for interactives content that you can create to start accruing back links, attracting site visitors, and more. Take these examples and start thinking what kind of interactive content would attract your audience—then go and get them!

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11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement

Facebook engagement refers to any action that someone performs on a Facebook page. This might include liking a post, leaving a comment, sharing one of your updates, clicking a link, viewing a video, etc.

Engagement is an important part of any Facebook marketing strategy as it can lead to better organic reach, which in turn can help drive traffic to your site—or even boost sales for your business.

Read on for 11 smart tips for driving engagement on Facebook.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

How to increase Facebook engagement: 11 tips that actually work

1. Select the best posting times and frequency

To get your audience to interact with your content, you have to post it during the times they’re most likely to be using the platform. Perfecting the timing of your social media posts can have a positive impact on engagement.

Know that Facebook’s complex News Feed algorithm can make it hard to get the timing correct, but it’s still possible to increase your chances.

Hootsuite’s social media marketing specialist, Amanda Wood, says:

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement. But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.” Specifically, Hootsuite’s marketing team determined that:

The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Post at these times, and you can expect a greater number of likes, comments, shares, and click throughs to your website.

Of course, the best time to post will be unique for every brand. To determine which time works best for you, always consult Facebook’s Page Insights to track and analyze your engagement data. You can also use Hootsuite Analytics to stay on top of your engagement data.

2. Share valuable content

What does valuable content look like?

In our content marketing 101 guide, we recommend creating and sharing content that meets these five criteria:

It is helpful to the audience. Are you actually solving their problem (“this is how you increase your sales”) or masking product information as advice (“how to increase your sales = book a demo with our sales team”).

It is rooted in specific, tangible, and real customer problems. Saving time on social media is not a problem. But spending four hours trying to create social media reports for your boss in Excel is.

It delivers on its promise. You know the problem (customer wants to drive sales) but does the advice actually show them how to solve it? To make the customer successful, your advice needs to provide concrete steps that helps them solve their challenges.

Is it actionable. After reading the content, what can the reader go and immediately apply to their business?

You are proud to share it. Is it something you’d share with your friends?

For more on creating and sharing valuable content, read our content marketing guide here.

3. Learn from your successes and failures

Track your performance. Figure out what worked, and do more of that. Determine what failed, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

The great thing about Facebook is that you don’t have to be a seasoned marketer to track what worked.

Case in point: Dr. Mark Sutor, a dentist, began creating Facebook Live videos to give average people actionable information on what to do with various dental issues. With no sizable budget or fancy effects, Dr. Sutor succeeded in getting thousands of views for his videos. With a customer base of approximately 5,000 at most, reaching that many people is significant for business.

For more on tracking Facebook performance, read our guide to using Facebook analytics.

4. Use compelling visuals

Visuals enrich your content and help it stand out on busy Facebook News feeds. Your audience is made up of visual creatures, so using images, graphics, and the like is a no-brainer.

An analysis of more than 100 million Facebook updates over a three-month period revealed that updates with images enjoyed 2.3 times more engagement than those without, according to a BuzzSumo study.

By simply including an image in a post, you get to enjoy at least double the engagement rate. That means double the number of comments, likes, and shares. Adding images to your content is a quick way to get more engagement.

5. Ask your audience questions

Remember that one of the primary forms of engagement is comments from your audience. This is perhaps the most straightforward way to boost engagement since you’re encouraging responses.

Facebook itself recommends that you ask your audience questions, which is what it terms as an example of an actionable post to increase engagement:

“Share articles or blogs from your website, provide links to your newsletter sign-up form, ask your fans to answer a question or provide their opinions in the comment section of your post.”

Feel free to get as creative as you can with the kinds of questions you throw to your audience. Here are some examples:

What’s your favorite [fill in the blank]?

How do you [complete this action]?

Why do you [like this event or brand]?

Do you agree with [reference a notable statement, event, person, etc.]?

6. Consider post length

The length of your post is influential to how strong your engagement rate is. Facebook’s character limit for status updates is more than 60,000. Naturally, you don’t want to post anything near that long. Test various lengths and pay attention to what works best for your audience.

Always look to the data. One study by Express Writers found that posts with only 40 characters enjoy 86 percent greater engagement than longer posts.

Do you have something to write that can’t be contained in just 40 characters? If you do, don’t fret. The same study determined that the second-best performing post length on Facebook was 80 characters or fewer, which saw 66 percent better engagement than longer posts.

7. Experiment with different video formats

Video is the key to greater Facebook engagement, so giving your audience a variety of video types is a formula for success. The one factor that’s been driving markedly higher shares is video, according to a Buzzsumo study. It looked at 25 million Facebook posts from the top 10,000 publishers on the platform.

It’s important to leverage this enthusiasm for video by showing your audience various styles of videos.

Here are some ideas:

Inspirational videos that feature quotes set to music.

Facebook Live videos that let you broadcast live to your audience.

Educational videos that teach people how to do something very easily.

Behind-the-scenes videos that give your audience an informal look at and access to your brand.

Featured videos that show up on your About section for extra prominence.

8. Drive traffic to your Facebook page from other sources

Send the audience that interacts with you on other social channels to your Facebook page. You could simply include a link to your Facebook page within a tweet or include it on your Instagram bio.

Another option is to display your Facebook page on your blog. There are various WordPress plugins that let you show your page and some of the posts right on your blog. Naturally, your ardent readers who enjoy your content will be curious about visiting your Facebook page, too.

Include a strong call to action to increase the conversion rate of those clicking back to your Facebook page.

9. Join Facebook groups

You’ll increase your engagement when your content surfaces among relevant audiences. These are people who are in the same industry as you or who are looking to solutions to the problems your content addresses.

By joining the right Facebook groups, you get to connect with these relevant audiences. Facebook defines groups as:

“…the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content.”

Your participation in the appropriate group can therefore drive traffic and engagement to your Facebook page.

10. Engage with other relevant brands and pages

Engaging here doesn’t mean to overtly promote your page on other brands’ pages—just the opposite! It means to thoughtfully and sincerely post relevant content or comments to other pages and share other brands’ content when it’s relevant to your audience.

By being tactful in your approach, the brands and their audiences are likely to notice and return the favor.

Ideally, if you build a relationship carefully enough with other brands, you may even be able to hash out a mutually beneficial content-sharing agreement. This will give both parties a greater reach and larger audience to engage with.

11. Include a call to action

You can’t underestimate the usefulness of a good call to action (CTA) on Facebook. Studies show that using specific words on posts can help increase conversion rates.

Using call to action terms correlates with higher effectiveness across the board. The average engagement rate per post is greater for posts that use these terms than those that don’t, according to a TrackMaven report. The terms the study looked are “share,” “please,” “now,” and “like.”

Facebook itself introduced CTAs on pages in the realization that encouraging customers to take action drives business objectives.

Based on this data, it makes sense for you to include calls to action on the posts you publish, as well as on your Facebook page.

With these tips, you can expect to increase your Facebook engagement significantly.

Manage your Facebook presence alongside your other social media channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule posts, share video, engage your audience, and measure the impact of your efforts. Try it free today.

Get Started

The post 11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement published first on http://ift.tt/2u73Z29

[unifiedsocialblog]

11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement

Facebook engagement refers to any action that someone performs on a Facebook page. This might include liking a post, leaving a comment, sharing one of your updates, clicking a link, viewing a video, etc.

Engagement is an important part of any Facebook marketing strategy as it can lead to better organic reach, which in turn can help drive traffic to your site—or even boost sales for your business.

Read on for 11 smart tips for driving engagement on Facebook.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

How to increase Facebook engagement: 11 tips that actually work

1. Select the best posting times and frequency

To get your audience to interact with your content, you have to post it during the times they’re most likely to be using the platform. Perfecting the timing of your social media posts can have a positive impact on engagement.

Know that Facebook’s complex News Feed algorithm can make it hard to get the timing correct, but it’s still possible to increase your chances.

Hootsuite’s social media marketing specialist, Amanda Wood, says:

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement. But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.” Specifically, Hootsuite’s marketing team determined that:

The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Post at these times, and you can expect a greater number of likes, comments, shares, and click throughs to your website.

Of course, the best time to post will be unique for every brand. To determine which time works best for you, always consult Facebook’s Page Insights to track and analyze your engagement data. You can also use Hootsuite Analytics to stay on top of your engagement data.

2. Share valuable content

What does valuable content look like?

In our content marketing 101 guide, we recommend creating and sharing content that meets these five criteria:

It is helpful to the audience. Are you actually solving their problem (“this is how you increase your sales”) or masking product information as advice (“how to increase your sales = book a demo with our sales team”).

It is rooted in specific, tangible, and real customer problems. Saving time on social media is not a problem. But spending four hours trying to create social media reports for your boss in Excel is.

It delivers on its promise. You know the problem (customer wants to drive sales) but does the advice actually show them how to solve it? To make the customer successful, your advice needs to provide concrete steps that helps them solve their challenges.

Is it actionable. After reading the content, what can the reader go and immediately apply to their business?

You are proud to share it. Is it something you’d share with your friends?

For more on creating and sharing valuable content, read our content marketing guide here.

3. Learn from your successes and failures

Track your performance. Figure out what worked, and do more of that. Determine what failed, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

The great thing about Facebook is that you don’t have to be a seasoned marketer to track what worked.

Case in point: Dr. Mark Sutor, a dentist, began creating Facebook Live videos to give average people actionable information on what to do with various dental issues. With no sizable budget or fancy effects, Dr. Sutor succeeded in getting thousands of views for his videos. With a customer base of approximately 5,000 at most, reaching that many people is significant for business.

For more on tracking Facebook performance, read our guide to using Facebook analytics.

4. Use compelling visuals

Visuals enrich your content and help it stand out on busy Facebook News feeds. Your audience is made up of visual creatures, so using images, graphics, and the like is a no-brainer.

An analysis of more than 100 million Facebook updates over a three-month period revealed that updates with images enjoyed 2.3 times more engagement than those without, according to a BuzzSumo study.

By simply including an image in a post, you get to enjoy at least double the engagement rate. That means double the number of comments, likes, and shares. Adding images to your content is a quick way to get more engagement.

5. Ask your audience questions

Remember that one of the primary forms of engagement is comments from your audience. This is perhaps the most straightforward way to boost engagement since you’re encouraging responses.

Facebook itself recommends that you ask your audience questions, which is what it terms as an example of an actionable post to increase engagement:

“Share articles or blogs from your website, provide links to your newsletter sign-up form, ask your fans to answer a question or provide their opinions in the comment section of your post.”

Feel free to get as creative as you can with the kinds of questions you throw to your audience. Here are some examples:

What’s your favorite [fill in the blank]?

How do you [complete this action]?

Why do you [like this event or brand]?

Do you agree with [reference a notable statement, event, person, etc.]?

6. Consider post length

The length of your post is influential to how strong your engagement rate is. Facebook’s character limit for status updates is more than 60,000. Naturally, you don’t want to post anything near that long. Test various lengths and pay attention to what works best for your audience.

Always look to the data. One study by Express Writers found that posts with only 40 characters enjoy 86 percent greater engagement than longer posts.

Do you have something to write that can’t be contained in just 40 characters? If you do, don’t fret. The same study determined that the second-best performing post length on Facebook was 80 characters or fewer, which saw 66 percent better engagement than longer posts.

7. Experiment with different video formats

Video is the key to greater Facebook engagement, so giving your audience a variety of video types is a formula for success. The one factor that’s been driving markedly higher shares is video, according to a Buzzsumo study. It looked at 25 million Facebook posts from the top 10,000 publishers on the platform.

It’s important to leverage this enthusiasm for video by showing your audience various styles of videos.

Here are some ideas:

Inspirational videos that feature quotes set to music.

Facebook Live videos that let you broadcast live to your audience.

Educational videos that teach people how to do something very easily.

Behind-the-scenes videos that give your audience an informal look at and access to your brand.

Featured videos that show up on your About section for extra prominence.

8. Drive traffic to your Facebook page from other sources

Send the audience that interacts with you on other social channels to your Facebook page. You could simply include a link to your Facebook page within a tweet or include it on your Instagram bio.

Another option is to display your Facebook page on your blog. There are various WordPress plugins that let you show your page and some of the posts right on your blog. Naturally, your ardent readers who enjoy your content will be curious about visiting your Facebook page, too.

Include a strong call to action to increase the conversion rate of those clicking back to your Facebook page.

9. Join Facebook groups

You’ll increase your engagement when your content surfaces among relevant audiences. These are people who are in the same industry as you or who are looking to solutions to the problems your content addresses.

By joining the right Facebook groups, you get to connect with these relevant audiences. Facebook defines groups as:

“…the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content.”

Your participation in the appropriate group can therefore drive traffic and engagement to your Facebook page.

10. Engage with other relevant brands and pages

Engaging here doesn’t mean to overtly promote your page on other brands’ pages—just the opposite! It means to thoughtfully and sincerely post relevant content or comments to other pages and share other brands’ content when it’s relevant to your audience.

By being tactful in your approach, the brands and their audiences are likely to notice and return the favor.

Ideally, if you build a relationship carefully enough with other brands, you may even be able to hash out a mutually beneficial content-sharing agreement. This will give both parties a greater reach and larger audience to engage with.

11. Include a call to action

You can’t underestimate the usefulness of a good call to action (CTA) on Facebook. Studies show that using specific words on posts can help increase conversion rates.

Using call to action terms correlates with higher effectiveness across the board. The average engagement rate per post is greater for posts that use these terms than those that don’t, according to a TrackMaven report. The terms the study looked are “share,” “please,” “now,” and “like.”

Facebook itself introduced CTAs on pages in the realization that encouraging customers to take action drives business objectives.

Based on this data, it makes sense for you to include calls to action on the posts you publish, as well as on your Facebook page.

With these tips, you can expect to increase your Facebook engagement significantly.

Manage your Facebook presence alongside your other social media channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule posts, share video, engage your audience, and measure the impact of your efforts. Try it free today.

Get Started

The post 11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

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